* I came across this piece written by Renato and I do not think it was ever published. Renato writes:
“I commend Evelyn for
how she is able to face, quite stoically, the daily insults and
bullying attacks attempting to force her to close her blog.
A blog where she deals
with the topic of “Rudolph Valentino's life” in a scientific way.
There she shares her methods which are typical of serious researchers
and a thousand miles away from the false truths about the subject of
Valentino. Those false truths which have been legitimized, deprived
of any logic and without even the slightest intellectual honesty and
actual documented evidence.
Intellectual honesty
always guides us in our work as it does for all sincere and honest
researchers.
The arguments used by
those who want us and our work dead and buried, silenced forever, are
evidence of their dreamed goal.
But we do not give up
so easily and I can also say that if there had not been all these
attacks, for years, we might be devoting our time to other research.
Their miserable arrogance forced us to continue to work with the
seriousness which distinguishes us and on an interesting and truly
complex character to which we are not emotionally linked.
Emotions and prejudices
are the enemies of any serious search for truth.
The first argument used
against us is that we are deceivers. This is because as their last
resort, in the face of exceptional documentation... we are branded to
be counterfeiters or pushers of false truths and all our documents
are branded to be "by default" false and created by us.
There is also a
“Pasionaria” who acts as if she were a forensic technician. She
pathetically tries to demonstrate that the documents we present are
our masterful inventions which she can prove false.
I would advise that
lady to devote herself to more useful activities and not let herself
be guided only by envy. I know she would like to be Evelyn, but I'm
sorry this is a mission impossible because that position is already
occupied.
Last but not least, I
also remind the "Pasionaria" that insults are not opinions.
The primary weapon used
to keep people interested in Valentino's life away from us, is to
possess and exhibit Valentino relics. Owning these relics
entitles the owner to utter any nonsense. Owning relics does
not mean you own or even know the history. All this reminds me of the
perfidious practices of the early colonizers who waved colored
necklaces and shining trinkets about to steal the good faith of the
naive honest natives.
Lastly, I share my
clarification that in the famous photograph, taken in Deauville which
we used as the image for our most recent podcast, the gentleman to
Valentino's left is not André Daven but René Clair. It doesn't take
a lot of science to figure out Rene Clair isn't Daven.
I wanted the legitimacy
of my discovery to be verified professionally and I asked the highest
French authority in cinema for their affirmation this was Rene Clair.
I contacted the curator of the iconography section of the
Cinémathèque Française, who, without ifs, ands or buts, confirmed
the validity of my discovery. .
I am very sorry for
these people's provocations as they reject the obvious, because their
obstinacy prevents them from learning something new about Rudolph
Valentino.
Less bullying and more
healthy intellectual honesty.”
